From New York to London
by reginalovesemma
Summary: AU where Emma's job requires frequent travel. One flight, Emma sees a new flight attendant and instantly feels the need to befriend her. But when Regina ignores her initial goofy one-liners, Emma gradually focuses more of her attention to trying to evoke a smile from the persistently stern brunette. Little does Emma know, she's slowly falling in love - one flight at a time.


A/N: I am yearning to see a kick-ass business savvy Emma utterly lose her nerve when she can't break Regina.

Special thanks to alittlepinkvial and swingqueen for editing my drunken mess.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Emma's gaze was distant as she stared down at her boarding pass. Her focus trailed past the slip of paper in her hand to the pattern on the carpet. Her mind was elsewhere but she knew she needed to snap out of this haze. She had plans this weekend that she'd now need to cancel. To her surprise, she really wasn't all that upset. Her friends had set her up on a blind date, having finally worn her down with their constant nagging about how she's married to her job and needs to get out there more, find someone to make her happy. The discussion was one she had heard over and over from them, and she knew they meant well, but she had gotten to the point where the minute they launched into their list of pros and cons about her life, she'd tune them out. She would give them the occasional head nod followed by a "yeah, that's true…". She loved her friends, she really did, but when her pleas for them to just let her live her own way didn't gain any ground with them, she just settled with letting them think they were making a dent. They weren't.

Today however, she wasn't all that thrilled with the sudden trip her boss had sprung on her. She normally loved traveling for her job, but today's trip came without any warning and she hadn't even had her normal dose of coffee yet, so her enthusiasm was at a minimum right now. Her phone had rung at 5 o'clock in the morning, just as she was finishing her morning run. "Emma, listen, I know this is incredibly last minute, but I need you to head to London. Our guys in R&D have discovered an issue coming out of the London section and I need you to go handle it. I'll email you the details, but get yourself on the first available flight."

She knew all too well this meant she was headed over there to fire an employee, possibly several, and fix whatever disaster the London team had created. Emma was very good at her job. And though she has been at it for over a decade now, she still hesitates to provide a proper answer when someone asks her exactly what she does. The best description she'd been able to come up with is that she's basically a "fixer" for a large corporation that has its hands dipped into numerous different arenas.

* * *

She'd grown up taking odd jobs here and there, as many young teens and college grads do, and she found that she flourished most when working for an ailing business. Within months, she'd have an elaborate plan for the owners and if they'd give her the chance to explain how she could fix all the problems, they'd usually let her run with it. People would get fired, stores would get remodeled, businesses usually always found themselves being restructured from the ground up. She thrived in the role and those were the times she was happiest.

As luck would have it, one of the many small businesses she saved from ruin was a local mom and pop corner deli. One of the frequent patrons was an older man who'd been coming to the deli since he was a young kid and had a special place in his heart for the place. Now friends with the owners, he knew about the bankruptcy that was looming over the establishment. He quickly took notice of the fresh-faced girl with the blonde ponytail that slowly, day by day, pulled them out of debt and turned the small deli into the hottest place to buy world class food with that "mom's kitchen" feel. The deli was even featured on Good Morning America in a spot about hidden gems in the city. That man saw what Emma did for the deli and knew he needed her working for him.

When he first approached Emma, she was incredibly wary of the slick businessman in the $5,000 suit. And she was even more wary of the large corporation that he kept mentioning. Being in her early twenties, she was still relatively new to the ways of the world, but she was willing to hear him out. He was smart enough to sense by the casually sloppy ponytail she sported every day and the carefree smile she always wore that she wouldn't be impressed by the flashy theatrics usually displayed when courting a new world-renowned scientist or Harvard grad. Instead, he opted for coffee and a walk. It didn't go unnoticed by Emma that he had stepped away from his usual pomp and circumstance. After hearing him honestly tell her about his company's faults and also seeing the joy in his eyes when he talked about the success stories, she was one foot in the door. She was sold on the deal when he told her she'd have free reign to get things accomplished as she saw fit. No idea would be too far-fetched, no cost would be denied, she would play by her own rules. Without hesitation, she returned to the deli and turned in her two weeks' notice.

And over the next ten years she had indeed played by her own rules. Counter to her normally cheery disposition, Emma put on her game face when she was on the job, morphing into an entirely new persona. Only a few of her friends had witnessed this side of her but their general consensus was that she was a beast. She'd fired countless people and extinguished many potential disasters within the company without hesitation, always in pursuit of conquering the current project, always winning.

Her commitment to being successful hadn't interfered with her ability to enjoy the perks of her job, though. She had gotten to see parts of the world she never imagined and she never got tired of traveling. She thoroughly enjoyed air travel, unlike so many of the other business people she saw flight after flight; men and women in suits, with their routines hammered down to a science.

Emma usually had time to prepare for these trips, which would allow her time on the plane to relax and gaze out the window at life speeding by thousands of feet below. Today however, she would have to spend the trip preparing just like all those business people she often pitied. She then realized that she hadn't even opened her email so she was unaware of what monster awaited her arrival in London.

* * *

Sitting there staring at the pattern in the carpet, Emma started willing herself to put on her game face. Her eyes glanced up and scanned the room; it was barely 7:00 in the morning, but the airport was in full swing. Children ran uncontrolled as their parents read the newspaper unaware. Airline staff was fluttering around at each gate, tapping away at the computers as impatient travelers displayed way too much hostility for this time of day. Sleepy teenagers trudged behind their parents, earphones blasting music to tune out the world. Business as usual in the airport, and it was comforting to Emma. Throwing the last of her coffee down her throat, she smiled and pulled out her phone to finally check that email. To be honest, she was looking forward to hitting her favorite pub for some fish and chips. She knew it was cliché, but she just couldn't get enough of the meal. It had been almost half a year since she'd been to the London office and she gladly accepted the suddenness of the trip. She shuddered with the thought of that blind date and felt overwhelming relief that she had been able to cancel it.

* * *

Emma tried to always travel business class, sometimes even first class, this being one of her favorite perks about having autonomy when it came to expenditure for her projects. She settled into her seat, enjoying the extra room provided by being in the front of the plane.

"Care for anything to drink?"

Emma did not look up as she was busy arranging her reading material and laptop, "Coffee please, black."

Sitting upright, she caught the back of the woman who'd just taken her drink request, and Emma was struck by her presence. She even caught herself cocking her head and furrowing her brow as she saw the brunette turn and disappear into the galley. Emma traveled enough, that she'd become friends with a bunch of the flight staff, but this one she'd never seen.

Unlike her work persona, Emma was incredibly jovial, almost to a fault. Her friendly attitude towards everyone has often gotten her into some interesting situations, many of which she and her friends look back on and laugh, throwing out the, "Oh my God Emma, I still can't believe you approached that guy and said that so calmly!" and "I thought she was gonna slap you after you were so friendly to her boyfriend!" She genuinely enjoyed talking with people and learning about them. Nothing seemed off limits when it came to inquiring about a person's life, even if she'd just met them ten minutes prior. She'd taken a few sociology and psychology classes in college and enjoys reading the occasional book about the human mind still today, but she adored just talking to people and seeing what made them tick. She was never bored by their stories and found it truly fascinating the subtle differences in each person. She found herself looking forward to meeting this new flight attendant and hearing how she ended up on this plane.

When she saw her reappear and head her way, Emma suddenly forgot what she was going to say. She always liked to meet someone with a joke, allowing the dorky side of her personality to stretch its legs. And even when her jokes were terrible, she usually managed to evoke a smile from a new person. Right then though, her mind had gone blank. All those one-liners she kept tucked away in the vault for these moments, were nowhere to be found, as she found herself studying her.

The woman's shoulder length brunette hair bounced ever so slightly with each step she took, and Emma suddenly had the urge to floof it. But Emma's attention quickly shifted to the woman's eyes, dark and intense. She was looking around the cabin, watching the passengers settle in, and Emma began to feel a rather strong urge to get to know this woman. It did not escape Emma's observation either, that the woman was very fit. The flight attendant uniform hugging her body and her toned muscles were hard to ignore. Emma's mind started racing with stories about this woman's life. She needed to know everything about her. Something seemed to have woken up inside her and she was struck with an intense curiosity about her. Emma was only pulled back to reality by the tap on her shoulder, her row mate had arrived, "Excuse me. That's me," he said, pointing to the window on the other side of Emma.

"Clearly, I haven't had enough coffee!" She said with a small laugh, as she stood to let him by. "Hi, I'm Emma. It'll be my pleasure sharing this row with you for the next eight hours!" she said with a big grin, fully aware of how cheesy she sounded. She heard herself laughing at herself in her mind. She never really understood why people chose to be so stand-offish. _If I met me, I'd be totally charmed by me! _

"I'm Mark. Um, thanks, I think?" he said, his face expressing slight worry about whether he just sat down next to that super talkative traveler. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep the flight away.

As Emma settled back into her spot, clicking her seatbelt together, she became aware of a pair of legs right off her shoulder. She turned to see a cup of coffee being thrust at her, she managed to grab it before it could possibly end up in her lap. She tilted her head up, reading the name tag, _Regina_. Emma's eyes moved upward to meet the dark eyes she was admiring earlier. But as quickly as they locked eyes, the woman broke contact and looked behind Emma without so much as a smile.

"Sir, can I get you anything to drink?" Emma looked to her left at him. He shook his head and waved her away with a slight flick of his hand as he continued to arrange his belongings. He pulled out headphones and, in a rather grand gesture, throws them around his neck. She may be overly friendly at times, but she at least knew how to read people and he was clearly letting her know he wanted to be left alone. _Your loss buddy, I'm awesomesauce. _She giggled in her head again.

Turning back to the aisle, she started, "I've not seen you –" but the brunette had already made her way back up the aisle.

"Challenge accepted!" Emma said out loud, prompting a concerned look from Mark.

She smiled coyly, "Challenge accepted, Regina," she whispers to herself again, as she watched her up at the front of the cabin, readying her surroundings for take-off.


End file.
